Confederate monuments were torn down down in Baltimore overnight just days after white nationalists led a deadly protest over the planned removal of a statue in Virginia. Work crews used heavy machinery to haul the divisive monuments away in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Four Confederate statues were swiftly removed in Baltimore during the early hours of Wednesday morning, days after violence erupted over the weekend in Charlottesville, Va. due to the removal of another Confederate monument there. Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh ordered a contingent of local police officers to remove the statues early Wednesday after the City Council voted on Monday for them to be removed, the New York Times reported. By 3:30 a.m., three of the city's four monuments had been removed. They included the Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson Monument, a double equestrian statue of the Confederate generals...

It appears Baltimore's Confederate four monuments are coming down faster than previously thought. Baltimore's mayor and City Council members differed over how to remove the city's four Confederate monuments, but crews were seen early Wednesday removing statues. About a dozen city crews and private contractors were seen in Wyman Park, removing the Lee and Jackson Monument. Crews started getting ready around midnight Tuesday. By 3 a.m., a crane hoisted the monument from its pedestal. By 3:45 a.m., the monument was transferred to a flatbed truck.

Baltimore City Council has voted to remove four Confederate monuments in the city. The move follows protesters pulling down a Confederate memorial in Durham, North Carolina after a deadly weekend of protests over another statue in Charlottesville, Virginia. The council still has to decide whether to destroy the monuments or move them to a museum because of their historical significance. We still emphatically do not want these to be placed on public display anywhere,” council member Brandon Scott told WMAR. Scott, who introduced the resolution calling for the destruction of the monuments said, “we should melt them down and use...

The city of Baltimore took down some Confederate statues on Wednesday morning. Similar statues have divided opinion throughout the country, with those supporting their retention stating that they mark US civil war history. Those against say they are racist symbols that celebrate slavery.

BALTIMORE - Contractors in Baltimore have removed several of the city's Confederate statues overnight. The Robert E. Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson monument in Wyman Park Dell was removed early Wednesday morning. The Confederate Women's Monument on West University Parkway was removed overnight as was the Roger Taney Monument from Mount Vernon Place. Taney was a Supreme Court justice who ruled African-Americans could not be considered citizens of the U.S. It is unclear if and when the city’s remaining Confederate statue - the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Mount Royal Avenue - is scheduled for removal. A commission appointed by...

A man wanted in the murder of a mother of eight who was killed after reporting her son was bullied turned himself in on Sunday, Baltimore police said. Darius Neal, 18, had been named the department’s latest “Public Enemy No. 1” on Saturday. Police said he turned himself in once he learned of the warrant for his arrest. Neal was wanted in the June 12 death of Charmaine Wilson, a 37-year-old mother of eight who was shot to death in a home in the 1700 block of Gertrude St. She had reported people were bullying her son over a bike...

Colin Kaepernick and Nessa arrive on the red carpet at the TIME 100 Gala at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, on April 26 in New York City. Aug. 12 (UPI) -- He played in the city for the better part of a decade and Bart Scott says Baltimore would also be the "right place" for Colin Kaepernick. "To a certain extent, with what is going on in Baltimore right now with the police officers, and the body camera scandal that is going on in Baltimore ... in light of what happened with Freddie Gray in...

Gov. Larry Hogan plans to hold a meeting this month with representatives of Baltimore judges, prosecutors and politicians to discuss why more violent offenders aren’t being held in jail longer. The governor called it “outrageous” that 60 percent of gun offenders convicted in Baltimore have more than half their sentences suspended — a frequent complaint of the police department. In 2016, 245 people convicted in gun cases in Baltimore were sentenced to less than a year in jail, according to data on convictions shared by police. That’s 43 percent of all cases. Defendants in 33 cases were sentenced to no...

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh announced a violent crime plan and appointed a new criminal justice director Wednesday, just days after the city failed to go 72 hours without a murder in the "nobody kill anybody" weekend campaign. ... Her policy plan addresses three areas she believes are the root cause of violent crime: poorly trained police, poor drug policy, and an under-educated populace. [Snip] Pugh’s plan also addresses a criminal justice reform topic that has enjoyed wide bipartisan support across the country, which is lowering sentences for drug crimes. Her plan calls for increased investment in drug treatment programs and...

Sade Alvarez-Gibson, 15, raps into a studio microphone in a makeshift booth made of blankets, while Oladele Kiambu, 17, records: “Keeping my mind focused / I’m controlling my reality / My grind’s an everyday thing / It’s something that I do casually,” she raps. Just feet away, Kamal Muhammad — wearing headphones and a face full of determination — sits in front of a computer monitor, rhythmically tapping on a keyboard, eliciting sounds of a synth and a drum kick. “This is my first time making a beat,” the 12-year-old said proudly. All three are hoping to break into the...

Erricka Bridgeford received a standing ovation from the congregation at Kingdom Life Church Sunday. Bridgeford, a special guest at the church in West Baltimore, and others had called for a 72-hour halt to the violence that has claimed the lives of more than 200 people in Baltimore so far this year — the fastest pace of violence in modern Baltimore history through July. Groups took the message to the streets, hosting dozens of events, staying out all night and offering food and services. The ceasefire was to end at midnight. Despite their efforts, four people were shot, two of them...

Baltimore activists' attempt for a murder-free weekend proved to be too much to ask of the city, with at least three people shot, two of them killed, in less than 72 hours since guns were ordered to be put down. Activist Erricka Bridgeford promoted the campaign as a "Baltimore ceasefire" and "Nobody kill anybody" weekend that began on Friday and ends Sunday night, garnering the support of thousands on social media since May. The city made it through Friday with no shootings reported, drawing hope from participants the campaign might see some success. But by Saturday, two men -- ages...

Baltimore is now averaging more than a murder a day, so a group of activists urged Baltimore residents to rally together for a ceasefire. This message encourages shooters to put down their guns for three days.This anti-violence effort began at midnight on Thursday with residents desperately hoping to prove peace is possible. Unfortunately, Baltimore Police have reported they’re investigating two homicides and one shooting since the ceasefire began.

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — During a social media campaign to derail HBO’s planned modern-day Southern slavery drama, one Twitter user’s posts about the history of the Maryland flag got a lot of attention. “What a lot of people don’t know is that the Maryland flag is half confederate,” @benjancewicz wrote, using the hashtag #NoConfederate. And, he’s kind of right. Yes, even though Maryland was a Union state, the flag — which is featured on the state’s license plate and is a popular adornment for clothing and accessories — does contain some Confederate symbolism. The flag’s older history is tied to George...

The Baltimore Police Department suspended seven officers after body camera video emerged that the city's public defender said appeared to show them planting drugs in a car during a traffic stop, the second such episode in the city in two weeks.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — Joe Flacco’s health. The salary cap. And of course, potential negative fan reaction. The Baltimore Raves are weighing all these factors — and then some — as they continue to wrestle with the decision whether to sign free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick. It’s been a week since Ravens coach John Harbaugh floated the idea of adding Kaepernick, a veteran with Super Bowl experience and the baggage that comes from his decision last year to literally sit out the national anthem on game day. The topic of Kaepernick came up on the first day of training...

There's much more to Charm City than what you've seen on The Wire. Even as racial tensions make headlines in this famously blue-collar town on the Chesapeake, slick waterfront projects and farm-to-table dining have arrived along with a new, younger generation of residents set on building the place they want to live in. One native Marylander travels to the city he first knew as a kid to meet the doers and dreamers driving Baltimore's next act.

After dismantling special operations units throughout the Baltimore Police Department amid a patrol shortage and a high-profile gun squad scandal four months ago, Commissioner Kevin Davis has reassigned more than 150 police officers and supervisors back onto similar teams. The city marked its 200th homicide on Wednesday, a staggering pace putting Baltimore on track to reach or exceed the historic highs — on a per capita basis — of 344 and 318 homicides in 2015 and 2016, respectively. As of July 15, the date through which citywide data is available, robberies were up 15 percent and aggravated assaults were up...

Washington Post employee Itai Ozderman, 35, was arrested after his Gaithersburg, MD home was raided by Montgomery County Police on February 22nd at around 6 a.m, according to court documents. Ozderman is charged with impersonating an ICE officer on several occasions throughout Falls Church, VA. When the warrant was served on Feb. 22 at Ozderman's home in the 100 block of Elmira Lane, court documents say 10 weapons, including handguns, assault rifles, and a shotgun, were recovered. Sources tell ABC7's Kevin Lewis that Ozderman impersonated an ICE officer throughout Falls Church, Va. on more than one occasion. According to sources,...